Riverhead’s Ashley Courts is seeded eighth in the long jump for the state qualifying meet Saturday. (Daniel De Mato photo)

The indoor track and field state qualifier will take place Saturday at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood. In individual events, the top two finishers earn a trip to states. A third-place finisher can earn a spot by holding a qualifying standard. In relays, only the winning team qualifies. (more…)

BILL LANDON PHOTO | Shoreham-Wading River goalkeeper Kelly Wynkoop saw her four-year varsity career come to an end Friday in the semifinals of the Class A playoffs.

CLASS A SEMIFINALS | GOLDEN FLASHES 1, WILDCATS 0

Junior Jessica O’Shaughnessy scored in the 30th minute to lift top-seeded Sayville to a 1-0 victory over Shoreham-Wading River in the Suffolk County Class A girls semifinals at Depot Field in Sayville on Friday afternoon.

The win boosted Sayville into the county finals against No. 2 Islip at the Dowling Soccer Complex at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The loss ended the fifth-seeded Wildcats’ most successful season since 2006 at 10-4, while the Golden Flash improved to 13-2.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | McGann-Mercy running back Reggie Archer carries the ball against Babylon Oct. 25, which turned out to be the final game of the season for the Monarchs.

The McGann-Mercy football team’s final game of the regular season tonight at Southampton was abruptly canceled this morning, according to Mercy athletic director John Lonardo and head coach Jeff Doroski.

It was Southampton’s decision to forfeit the game, which will go down as Mercy’s first win of the season.

Lonardo said he received a call last night from Southampton’s athletic director about the possibility of a forfeit. This morning, Mr. Lonardo said he received a call confirming that the game will not be played.

“As far as I know there are no plans to play game at a future date,” he said.

Southampton High School Principal Brian Zahn told The Southampton Press that “there was an incident reported to us that we are investigating and following up on. Because of the nature of our investigation we felt it best that we just forfeit that game.”

The news came as a shock to the Monarchs, who prepared all week to face the 1-6 Mariners and were excited over the prospects of ending the season with a win.

“I feel bad for all the kids involved,” Doroski said. “The seniors miss out on an opportunity to play their last high school football game.”

Word began to spread among the players this morning via text messages and phone calls, Doroski said. The team plans to meet at 3 p.m. today for a final meeting and to collect equipment. Doroski said they might take the players out for a night of bowling and pizza.

After a thrilling run to the Division IV semifinals last year in the playoffs, the Monarchs couldn’t catch a break this year as a difficult schedule and injuries paved the way to an 0-7 start. As practice began this week, Doroski told the players that nothing else matters from this point as they prepared to try to win their final game.

“For the seniors that would be something they remember,” Doroski said.

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Shoreham-Wading River second baseman Kyle Pendergast tries to turn a double play against Eastport-South Manor Friday.

There will be a new county champion in 2013.

Shoreham-Wading River fell 8-1 Friday afternoon at Eastport-South Manor in a Class A loser’s bracket game, ending the Wildcats’ run of two straight county championships. The Wildcats dropped into the loser’s bracket after a 4-1 loss to Sayville Wednesday.

The sixth-seeded Wildcats caught a tough break facing the second-seeded Sharks in the first game of the loser’s bracket. The Sharks, who won League VI, were upset in the first round by John Glenn, a team that needed to win its final four games of the regular season in League VII to clinch a playoff spot.

Led by starting left-hander John Maccio, the Sharks dominated early to quickly blow the game open. Maccio pitched a complete game, giving up three hits with seven strikeouts. The Sharks scored three in the second and four in the fourth, more than enough to hold off the Wildcats.

Shoreham (12-10) used four pitchers and starter Evan Kearney took the loss.

Eastport third baseman Mat Annunziata was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Shoreham was still without its top hitter, Nick Bottari. He’s been sidelined most of the spring with torn cartilage in his wrist.

The Wildcats ended the season on five-game skid, after getting swept by top-seeded Bayport-Blue Point in the final series before the playoffs.

Eastport (17-5) still faces a long road through the loser’s bracket. The Sharks will play again Monday against Miller Place, needing five more wins in a row to claim the county championship.

Bayport will face Sayville Wednesday and the winner will be one win away from the county title.

The Riverhead softball team will open the Class AA playoffs Monday with a home game against Smithtown West. The Blue Waves were seeded eighth in the bracket after finishing the season 15-5 overall. The Bulls are seeded ninth, according to the brackets released Friday afternoon by Section XI.

The game is scheduled for 4 p.m.

The winner of Monday’s game will most likely have to face top-seeded Bay Shore in the next round. Bay Shore will play the winner of No. 16 Kings Park and No. 17 Centereach.

Smithtown West went 13-6 in League III. Riverhead lost to Smithtown West April 16, 5-4.

The Blue Waves ended the season winning six of their final seven games to finish one game behind both Hauppauge and Half Hollow Hills West for first place. Four of those wins were by one run.

The playoff bracket becomes double elimination starting in the semifinals. So the Blue Waves would need to win two games to reach the double elimination part of the bracket.

In Class A Shoreham-Wading River was seeded fifth and will open the playoffs Tuesday against rival Sayville, the fourth seed. The Golden Flashes have ended the Wildcats’ season in the playoffs each of the past two years. The Wildcats opened the regular season this year against Sayville and lost 7-2.

The Wildcats finished 16-2 overall, but did not receive a higher seed after playing in League VII. Two Class A playoff teams were in League V and three others played in League VI.

If the Wildcats win they would advance to play top-seeded Miller Place May 23.

After a 10-win season last year that left them on the outskirts of the playoffs, the Riverhead Blue Waves will enter the dance this season for the first time.

The Blue Waves’ 8-6 Division I record positioned them 13th in the power rankings at the conclusion of the regular season yesterday. That sets up a first-round playoff matchup Thursday at Smithtown East, the No. 4 seed. The game is tentatively slated for 4 p.m.

The top three seeds — Ward Melville, Smithtown West and Northport — all receive a first-round bye.

Riverhead finished the regular season 10-6.

The Blue Waves actually finished with one fewer league win than last year, but a tougher schedule allowed the power points to work in their favor this season.

Riverhead did not play Smithtown East in the regular season. The Blue Waves went 1-5 against playoff teams in the regular season.

The 2012-13 high school boys basketball season began with cautioned optimism around Bishop McGann-Mercy. The Monarchs knew they had a deep team led by two strong all-around players in Nykel Reese and Asaiah Wilson. And they also knew playing in League VII put them at a decided disadvantage.

“Mercy looks like the [Class] C team to beat,” Newsday wrote in its season preview in December.

The Monarchs may very well be the team to beat. But they won’t get a chance to prove it in the playoffs.

The Monarchs finished 5-9 in League VII, leaving them two games short of the minimum .500 league record to qualify for the postseason. But given their more difficult schedule — which forced them to play 12 games against Class B schools — the Monarchs petitioned Section XI, the governing body for Suffolk County athletics, to allow them into the postseason.

The petition was denied.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we could win a county championship this year,” said McGann-Mercy coach Mike Clauberg.

The Monarchs are the largest of the six Suffolk County schools that fall into Class C. Classification numbers are determined by the state and can vary year to year. The eight smallest schools in the county form League VIII. Four of those schools are Class C and four are Class D.

The Monarchs and Port Jefferson were the only Class C schools in League VII. The Monarchs won both games against the Royals this season.

But the Monarchs were just 3-9 against Class B teams, leaving them with a league record of 5-9.

The Stony Brook School, which went 14-3 in the lower league, received the No. 1 seed for the Class C playoffs. Pierson (11-7) was the No. 2 and Greenport (10-7) the No. 3.

On Tuesday night, Pierson defeated Greenport, 63-41, to advance to the county final.

Stony Brook played only one Class B team and lost by 26 to League VII champion Babylon.

Clauberg said Section XI denied the petition because McGann-Mercy didn’t play enough games against Class C schools. Clauberg said he tried to schedule a few more non-league games against Class C teams but they didn’t pan out.

Instead, the Monarchs played Shelter Island and Smithtown Christian, two Class D schools. They won both games. Their other non-league games included a loss to Lindenhurst (Class AA) and a win over Sayville (Class A).

Coaches for Greenport and Pierson agreed that McGann-Mercy should have been allowed in the tournament.

“My heart goes out to the Mercy kids because that’s really who gets affected,” said Pierson coach Dan White. “I don’t know what the issue would be, money or whatever, but those kids should have gotten a chance.”

Stony Brook received a bye into the county final, so McGann-Mercy could have conceivably played a semifinal Tuesday night against the Bears.

“If they had been a No. 4, they probably could beat a No. 1 team,” said Greenport coach Al Edwards. “You never know what’s going on one particular night. I think there was probably some injustice done there.”

The maddening part for McGann-Mercy lies in the fact that there was a precedent to allow a Class C team from League VII into the tournament. It happened just last year with Port Jefferson. The Royals went 5-9 in league play last season and were granted the No. 3 seed in the playoffs as the final team to make it into the postseason.

Last season McGann-Mercy was a Class B school.

“Teams should have to win more than one game to win a championship,” Clauberg said. “Port Jeff deserves to be in, too.”

Clauberg said they received no explanation from Section XI as to why Port Jefferson was allowed in last year while McGann-Mercy was denied this year. The Royals also tried to get in this year and were denied as well, Clauberg said.

“No one understands it,” he said. “[Section XI] said we don’t use past precedent.”

At least two parents wrote letters to the Section XI executive director, Ed Cinelli, seeking an explanation. Those inquiries went unanswered as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We were shocked,” Clauberg said after finding out his team’s season was over. “How hard is it to let us play Stony Brook?”

ROBERT O’ROURK PHOTO | Shoreham-Wading River senior T.J. Fabian placed third at 126 pounds in the county tournament Wednesday.

T.J. Fabian’s hopes for a state title remain alive.

After losing in the quarterfinals of the Section XI county tournament, the Shoreham-Wading River senior rallied to place third at 126 pounds to give himself a chance at earning a wild card bid to the state championship in Albany.

To earn a third-place finish, Fabian needed to defeat the wrestler who knocked him off earlier in the tournament for his first and only loss of the season. Huntington junior Corey Jamison narrowly defeated Fabian in the quarterfinals Tuesday before losing in the semifinals. That sent him on a collision course to meet Fabian again in the consolation round Wednesday.

Fabian wasn’t about to lose twice.

Fabian edged Jamison 2-0 in the consolation final, a huge victory that all but assures him a return trip to states. Last year Fabian was fourth in New York after earning a wild card bid.

The wild card bids won’t be determined until all the section tournaments are completed.

Fabian needed to win one match Wednesday at Walt Whitman High School to advance to the consolation final against Jamison. As it turned out, he earned a forfeit win, leaving only one match to wrestle. He was supposed to wrestle Brad Wade of Islip in his first match but Wade suffered an ankle injury that ended his tournament.

Two other Shoreham wrestlers competed Wednesday in the second day of the county tournament. Dom Pirraglia at 182 won his first consolation match, 8-2, before losing via pin in the consolation final for fourth place.

James Szymanski at 106 lost his first match, 6-4, to drop to the fifth/sixth match. He won via forfeit for fifth place.